Swimming device.



H. SELTZER.

Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

15E COLUMBIA PLANOHRAPH 0" WASHINGTON, D. C.

H. SELTZER. SWIMMING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED OCT- 30. 1914.

1,171,752. Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.'

witmwae o 27 5] mm who z a w'fx nm-gv Ql C THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0..WASHINGTON, D. c.

H. SELTZER.

SWIMMING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED on. so. 1914.

Patented Feb. 15,1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3 %H7%meo: Q. 55;

COLUMBIA PMNOGRAPH .Co

. scription.

HYMAIN' SEL'IZER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known" that I, HYMAN lsnLrznina subject of the Czar of Russia, anda resident of New York, borough of Brooklyn, county ofKings, and StateofNew York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inSwimming Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXactspecification. r

This invention relates to a class of devices adapted to be used inaquatic sports.

My invention has for itsobject primarily to provide ,a swimming devicedesigned to be employed by a person for floatingat various depths inwater while in an upright position to appear as if walking as well aspermitting the person to be propelled when in other attitudes,f,therebyallowing feats which are usually considered impossible to be readilyaccomplished by one who is skilled in themanipulation of the device, andwhich consists essentially of a supporting frame adapted to bedeta'chably fastened to a person so as to be disposed'between' the feet,and to the frame is revolubly mounted a propeller adapted to be drivenby the feet of the person when moved alternately in upwardly anddownwardly directions.

Other objects ofthe invention are to provide operative means on theframe for driving the propeller; touprovide, crank members whereby theoperative means may be-operated by the feet. of the person using thedevice; to provide a retainer for permitting the frame to be suspendedfrom the person; and to provide means for detachably fasteningtheretainer to the body of the person.

With these and other objects in view, the invention will be hereinaftermore particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this Specification, and will then be pointed outyinthe claims at the endof the de- In the drawings Figure 1 is afragmentary view showing a 'front elevation of one form of the swimmingdevice embodying my invention as employed by a person. Fig. 2 is afragmentary view showing a side elevation of the device and the mannerof applying it to a person. 'Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail side View,partly broken away, of the device.- Fig. 1 is an enlarged detail frontview, partly broken away, ofthe device, and

Fig. 5 is a. view, taken on the line V V of Fig. 4.

SWIMMING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent. 7 Patentgd Feb; 15, 191 6. Applicationfiiedjoctober so, 1914. Seria1I To.869,419. V I

The swimming device has a supporting frame 10 composed preferablyof abar 11, and on one end of the bar is formed an elongated head 12 in thefreeend of which is a recess '13 disposed lengthwise of the head.Extending laterally from the free end portion of the head 12 is one endof a curved bracket,'as 14, provided with a sleeve or ring 15 on itsother end,and this ring is inalinement with the head 12in spacedrelatlon to its free end so that the opening through the ring cess ofthe head. V

r In the recess 13 of the head .12 of the supporting frame is 'rotatablydisposed one end is in register with the reof. a {shaft 16 which is ofsuflicient length J" to extend somedistance beyond thehead, and on theend of the extending part of the shaft is a'propeller 17 The propellerbe of any .well known or preferred type adapted'when driven to cause aperson, as 18, who'may be'usingthe deviee'to float at suitable. depthsbelow the surface of wateras while in the wate awell as being adapted topropel the person 'As shown in the drawing the device when I in use isdisposed between thelegs of the op- I erator so that the propeller 17will be underneath the operator for being driven bythe feet,-and servingas meansto permit the propeller and its shaft to be operated, on

The gear 19 and its sleeve is arrangedon-the shaft of the propeller soasto be disposed the shaft 16 is a bevel gear 19 having a sleeve 20extending from one of its ends.. 4

between the ring 15 of the bracket 14' and the opposed'end-of the headof the supporting frame 10, and this'gearistightly held to the shaft ofthe propeller by a set screw or thelike passing through a threadedopening inthe sleeve'of the gear so as to engage the shaft of'thepropeller. The bevel gear 19 is in mesh with the't'eeth of a bevel-faceddrive gear, as 21, which is held on-a shaft 22 journaledin the centralpart of the bar 11 of the frame of the device. To permit person usingthe device whereby the propeller may be driven, on one end of the shaft22 of thedrivegear 21 adjacent to this gear is held one end of a crankmember 2-3, and on the otherend' of this shaft is heldoneend of V asecond crank member 24. The crank members 23 'and 21"are disposed inopposite directions relatively toeach other' and these these parts to beoperated by the'feet of the a. i

v crankmemb'erspreferably entendoutwardly ends thereof'will be suitablyspaced from the frame and from the drive gear 21. On

the opposite end of the crank member 23 pivoted a pedal 25 provided witha cross strap 26, and on the; opposite end ofthecrank member 2% ispivoted. a pedal 27 also having a similar cross-strap 28,thesestrapsserving to hold the feet of the person. operating the device againstaccidental displacement on the pedals.

For the purpose of permitting the frame 10 to be suspended to theoperator of the de-. vice, I provide a retainer, as 29. The retainer 29is preferably of a form having a front rod 30, two spaced back .rods 31and 32, and a brace, or reinforcing bracket 33, all of which ispreferably made of stiff wire was to be light in weight as well asserving to rigidly hold the device proper when in use. The front rod 30and the'back rod 31 may be integrally. formed by bending the centralpart of a single strip of wire to provide a loop, as 3-1, which isrotatably disposed over one end of a pin, or lug 34 extending in alateral direction. through an openingin the central'part of the bar 11of the framelO, and these rods diverge outwardly with respect to the pin34". The upper ends of the rods 30 and 31 terminate with hooks as 35 and36, and both of the rods are of sufficient lengths to extend above theframe 10 a distance whereby the hooks thereof may bedetachably fastenedto .the waist of the operator of the device. The back rod is similar inlength to'the back rod 31 as well as being correspondingly disposed tothe back rod so as to be spaced therefrom, and the upper end of the backrod 32 also terminates with a hook 37. The back rod 32 and the brace 33may also be integrally formed of a single strip of wire, the centralpart of which is bent toform a loop, as 38,-which is rotatably disposedover the other end of the pin 34:" of the bar 11 of the frame of thedevice. The-wire is then guided upwardly and bent tight-ly around thefront rod 30 at a part thereof which is on alinement with the upper endof the bar 11 of the frame, and this wire is disposed crosswise towardthe center of both of the backrods 31 and 32. Midway of the distancebetween the front rod and the back rods the wire is curved outwardly inthe form of approximately the quadrant of a circle, and thewire isdirected toward and tightly bent around the back rod 31 after which thewire is reversely twisted around part of itself including the curvedpart; A substantially Ushaped recess or holding part, as39, is thenprovided in the brace 33 for removably receiving the upper end of thebar 11. of the frame 10 by curving the wire in substantially thequadrantof a circle in an opposite direction to the other curved part thereof,and the wire is directed crosswise to the back rod 32 around which it istightly bent. The wire is afterward iretwisted over itself. throughoutits length, and thiswireterminates with a depending loop,- as 40, at thejuncture of the brace with the front rod 30. In this manner, as shown,the brace 33 serves to strengthen the rods 30, 31, 32 as wellas holdingthe rods in spaced triangular arrangement.

Serving as means to permit the device tobe detachably applied to. aperson I provide a belt, as'at 41, having .a longitudinally disposedstrap 42 throughboth end. portions of which are a number of eyelets 13and 4:4:- Depending from spaced parts of the strap 12 intermediate itsends are two back. straps 15 and 46, and on. the free ends of thesestraps are buckles 4:7 and as of well known forms, as shown, which areadapted, to be engaged in the usual. way by the eyeleted ends of thestrap'l25 At the juncture of the strap 42 with the. strap 15 is a gusset49, and a similar gusset 50 is provided at the juncture of the strap42'with the strap 15 and 4:6 is a third gusset '51, and extending.

from each of these gussets is an eye, at 52:

V h1le I have shown andvdescribed a spe- Between the lower ends of thestraps cific form of the supporting belt ll for permitting the device tobe detachably applied to a person, i do not claim this particular beltas part of my present invention as any suitable type of belt or othermeans maybe used instead thereof.

In order to apply the device to a person for use the strap 42 of the.belt 41 is guided around the waist while the straps 4:5 and 46 aredisposed under. the legs of the person. The ends of the waist strap arethen fastened to the buckles of the leg straps in the manner shown inFigs. 1 and 2. The hooks of the back rods 31 and 32 of the retainer 29are then fastened to the eyes 52 of the gussets 19 and 50 of thebelt,and the. hook of the front rod 30 is fastened to the eye .52 of thegusset 51. The device proper will then be disposed between the legs ofthe person, as shown in Fig. 2, and when the person has passedinto'water the feet of the'operator of the device are placed on thepedals of the crank'members 23 and 24 so that the straps of the pedalswill be guided. over the feet and the upper end -.of the bar 11' ofbthe'frame 10 is disposedin the recess '39 of theretainer 29. The propellerof the device will thereby be disposed below the operators feet, and tofurther hold the. device in this position to the bracket 1 1 of the head12 of theframe is secured. oneend of a spring:

rod 55 which eirtends upwardly, and the upper end of this rod terminateswith a hook 56 which is removably guided into the depending loop 40 ofthe brace 33. The propeller 17, its shaft 16, gear 19, drive gear .21,

and the shaft 22 are then driven by rotatably movingthe pedals and crankmembers 23 and 24: by the feet of the operator similar to driving abicycle. When in an upright position in the Water the operator of thede-' vice may be raised or lowered to diflerent depths by driving thepropeller at various speeds, and when the operator assumes differentattitudes in the water for instance by fications may be made thereinwithout dea parting from the principle, or sacrificing any of theadvantages of this invention, therefore I reserve to myself the right tomake such changes as fairly fall within the scope of the appendedclaims. 7

Having thus described my invention, I

7 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent p 1. A swimmingdevice comprisingaframe bar, a propeller journaled in the frame bar,foot operated means for driving the propeller, and a retainerattached'to the frame Copies of this patent may be obtained for fivecents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents,

Witnesses:

bar to permit relative movement of the A frame bar and retainer andmeans for holding the frame bar in 'fixed position to the rev tainer,when the device is in use.

2. A swimming device comprising a sup- 7 porting frame in the form ofabar adapted to be straddled by a person, propeller carrying shaftjournaled in the lower end 7 of the bar against longitudinal displacement, pedal-operated geared means for rotating the propeller shaft bythe feet, a re-v tainer pivoted to'the bar intermediate its ends andcomprising a front rod and a pair of back rods, means limiting themovement V of thebar inv the direction of the retainer,

means carried by the frame and retainer for cooperation in holding theparts in the last mentioned position with the propeller beneath the feetof the operator, and a body,

engaging member provided with means for connecting the retainer thereto.

This specification signed and witnessed this vtwenty-ninth ,dayofOctober .A. D.

HYMANSELTZ'ER;

Roe'r. B. ABBOTT, H. M. RosnnrHAL. V

' Washington, DQG,

